The present invention relates to a high intensity lighting system for use on welders helmets.
Typical welders helmets have a viewing port which is covered with a light filtering window through which the welding operation is viewed by the welder in order to protect his eyes. The light filtering window must be such that, in essence, little or no light passes through the filtering window until the welding arc is struck and the welding task begun.
A drawback is that before a welding arc is struck, the welder cannot see through the light filtering window. Thus, he cannot see the workpiece and cannot accurately control the exact point at which the arc is to be struck. Even when an arc is struck, there are areas that are not well illuminated by the welding arc. Therefore, the welder cannot adequately see ahead of the welding electrode in the direction in which he must move the electrode.
Attempts have been made to overcome this problem by placing high intensity lamps on stands about the work area. However, this attempted solution has a number of defiencies. For example, the area of illumination provided by the lamps is not immediately controllable by the welder. To position the lamps, he would have to stop welding, lay down the welding apparatus, lift the welding helmet exposing his eyes to the high intensity light and turn off the light, or turn off the light before lifting his helmet, estimate the location he wants illuminated, reposition the lamp, replace helmet over his face and turn on the lamp. And then he may not have aimed the lamp correctly to illuminate the desired area. As the welding progresses to different locations on the work piece, the above procedure would have to be repeated over and over, thus, slowing the welding task which translates into increased costs. Also, this type of lighting system is clumsy and large; and for this reason difficult to move from one job site to another. Furthermore, these lamps do not satisfactorally illuminate a work piece so that it can be viewed clearly through the light filtering window of a welders helmet for the reason that they can not safely be of a high enough intensity without possibly subjecting by-standers to a large area of blinding light. These stand-mounted lamps also crowd the work area and are, therefore, very susceptible to being knocked over and damaged, or injurying by-standers. They also take-up valuable floor space.